10 Years of Growth and Innovation at Almac Pharma Services’ Charnwood

This year marks ten years since Almac first announced its planned investment in facilities at the Charnwood campus near Loughborough, England. What began as the establishment of an additional pharmaceutical development and analytical testing hub has evolved into one of Almac’s most dynamic centres of scientific excellence.

When Almac acquired a portion of the former AstraZeneca R&D campus a decade ago, the organisation projected the creation of 180 new jobs over five years. Since then, the Charnwood site has far exceeded expectations with over 350 employees now working at the site with further growth planned.

The Charnwood facilities have become a significant part of Almac Pharma Services’ global offering, complementing operations at its headquarters in Craigavon, Northern Ireland and and facilities in the United States and Republic of Ireland. Investments over the past ten years have transformed the Charnwood site into a multi‑disciplinary centre with capabilities that now include development of a range of oral dosage forms, GMP clinical manufacturing, analytical development and QC testing and small‑scale commercial manufacturing.

In response to evolving industry requirements and changing client needs, Almac has made substantial investments to expand the technological footprint at the Charnwood campus, ensuring the capabilities, flexibility and expertise required to support increasingly complex drug development programmes. 

These investments include:

• Expanded analytical laboratory capacity, supporting Almac's global analytical growth and strengthening end-to-end development support from early-phase research through to commercialisation.
• Enhanced containment technologies for potent compounds, including isolator systems, split-butterfly valves and engineered workflows, enabling the safe and efficient development of increasingly potent and complex therapies.
• Technologies to support the development and commercial supply of age-appropriate dosage forms for patient populations such as paediatrics.
• State-of-the-art spray drying capability, enabling advanced bioavailability enhancement solutions for poorly soluble molecules and addressing growing demand for technologies that improve drug performance.

Over the past decade, Almac Pharma Services teams in Charnwood has played a critical role in supporting global pharma and biotech partners across a range of diseases including different types of cancer, infectious diseases and metabolic disorders. Its scientists and engineers now offer an expanded toolbox of formulation, particle engineering, analytical and manufacturing technologies that accelerate development timelines and improve patient outcomes.

Commented James Hurst, VP Operations & Charnwood Site Head: “Almac celebrates this 10‑year milestone with an eye towards the future. We are committed to further investment in the people, facilities and technologies that ensure Charnwood remains at the forefront of pharmaceutical innovation.”

“With ongoing recruitment, continued capital investment and a growing suite of advanced development and manufacturing capabilities, we will continue to strengthen our presence in the UK through the expansion of our Charnwood operations, further enhancing our ability to support clients worldwide with best-in-class scientific expertise.”